Amazing Goals

Lionel Messi had an off year in 2014. He lost in the World Cup Final. He didn’t win the Ballon d’Or. His club, Barcelona, lost out on all three major trophies, including missing out on a chance to win La Liga on the very last match day of the year. By the end of the year it was looking like Barcelona, as great as they would always be, were a long way away from hitting the heights of their glorious past, and that Messi would never be able to regain the form that earned him 4 straight Ballon d’Ors.

How much have things changed. 

The candidates for this year’s Puskas Award for the goal of the year have wasted no time in making their presence known, and even less time in blowing our minds. 

Tell me, what first comes to your head when I say, “Back heel chipped goal?”

Personally, I think of a forward facing away from goal who somehow manages to use his heel like a sand wedge and pop the ball over the keeper. This image looks very painful, and leaves me fairly certain that you would have to break your heel in the process of scoring such a goal in order to, you know, actually score it.